Johnny Marr - The Joy Of The Guitar Riff 

I'm 44 now but every time I hear the opening to This Charming Man I'm 14 again, sat in my bedroom in Bolton and I feel fucking great. Wonderful.

This guy can do no wrong as far as i'm concerned. I could listen to his instrumentals on repeat for the rest of my life. Genius.

Johnny Marr, The Edge, and Peter Buck (REM) changed my way of playing guitar, from ripping of Jimmy Page and Eddie Van Hale, to playing with my Chorus, Sustain, Pitch Shift Delay, and letting notes ring out against other melodies, etc. So much depth in the Post-Punk styles of these artists. Funny enough, it was more challenging for me to unravel these guys' guitar parts from the bass, keyboards, etc., than it was to learn really fast, distorted lines from heavy metal.

Now I see why so many of my New Wave friends in college during the mid-80's were so into the Smiths. I dug their How Soon Is Now song yeah but I had no idea just how good Marr's playing was or how complicated it really got. I like how he restricts himself form metal & hard rock - power chords & typical song structure. Yes his style deserves to be studied by guitarists if for no other reason than to show them what can be done in Rock without distortion, power chords & long solos. Very cool indeed.

This Charming Man. One of the five best songs ever. One of the five best riffs ever. Period.

One of my favorite guitar players! I met him once several years ago. He's a friendly guy who is so passionate about music that he took the time to discuss Patti Smith and The The with me after his show.

love how at 2:48 the guy says the riffs going somewhere, yet the next song Marr plays in the video is called nowhere fast

Johnny marr is top class.

Never knew he was so young when he wrote those legendary guitar parts.

The power of deliberately restricting your options. How many guitarist dare cut out power chords and artificial distortion? It's like Mark Sandman playing a 2 string bass ... sometimes limiting options opens up a new creative world

As Keith Richard's famously said, it's not what you play, it's what you don't play. Marr in indie style with the same philosophy.

without Johnny Marr The Smiths wouldn’t be great’s.. He is a truely legend.. the jimmy Hendrix of his time

The most surprising thing to me is how damn YOUNG he was when he wrote these guitar parts. His playing is so mature and sophisticated, yet was only a teenager when he came up with them.

This man is the best guitarist ever

There must be a million videos of Johnny Marr playing the This Charming Man riff on You Tube. And they are all worth watching.

What difference does it make has an amazing riff

This man is the very essence of a guitar genius.

My hero. My absolute musical hero. Genius.

The man has literally wrote the best and most memorable guitar riffs in the history of music. There's no other way to describe Johnny as just pure genius.

Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others guitar riff is absolutely beautiful

Johnny Marr para mi es uno de los mejores guitarristas de todos los tiempos.

Combine beautiful riffs and gorgeous quiffs and you get pure genius! Long live The Smiths.

You're a wizard johnny.

Johnny Marr's guitar will never be replicated, it's a unique sound that only he knows how to make. My favorite guitarist.

Johnny Marr is an all time Great British Guitar Hero. One of the best there has ever been. ["They call it the Rickenbacker Jangle." :D]

Did he just call a guitar riff pregnant?

I love ❤️ Johnny Marr and his tunes

awesome, thanks for sharing! Mr. Marr rocks!!! i love just how the clip ends and you can catch a glimpse of SONIC YOUTH about to blast into SILVER ROCKET!

Btw, telecasters are known for their twang but they can be super jangly too It's as much about the player as it is the guitar I saw X the other night and Zoom was playing the most beautiful Gretsch ever to walk the earth. It, like the Rickenbacker takes no prisoners and makes no apologies Jangle for its own sake can certainly be overdone by the imitators but guys like Marr and Buck made music that will last forever Noel Gallagher said it best - Johnny Marr is so good even HE (Marr) can't play what he plays It's the kind of genius where he might casually trot out some riff w/o even realising he's doing it and then consciously have to try to reconstruct what was an unreflective upon instantaneous flash of genius

When I did discovered that Marr and Sumner (New Order) made an album back in 1991 I about bugged out! 😳

the God of riffs

JM is a gift to us all

I genuinely believe Johnny Marr is 2nd to Jimi Hendrix in terms of that whole 'guitar as an extension of the human body' thing they both have going on. That ability to just pick up a guitar and KNOW it inside and out as if it were a part of you.

Why can´t they be back again ? The world miss them . . .

AMAZING GUITARISTS!!!!

the true indie pop guitar legend..

Thank you from a break from the endless masturbatory 'look at me I am playing lead' guitar playing Every review of a guitar will feature some guy playing 9:50 of lead and :10 seconds of rhythm etc Those of us who grew up on Marr Summers Jones Ramone Strummer Buck etc. Exist too!!!!! Thank you!

Stop me if you have heard this one before, but... "He wasn't allowed to look at heavy metal..." The solo for 'Shoplifters...' is not ultimately a 'Heavy Metal' riff; but pulls it off extremely well; almost to a professional distinction if ever one should exist.

But delivered with total rock n roll attitude !!

I hear so much eastbay ray in this guy, its crazy

I had to sit though a pamper commercial but it was worth it, thank you fing advertisers

It's cool that Marr and Peter Buck were taking things in a similar direction, at the same time. Almost like a conspiracy.

That's the most impressive syrup i've ever seen.

I hadn't realized they were like an Elvis satire band until now. they are good but wow.

Genius.

Johnny Be God!

wow the problem with this was it is too short!

His playing reminds me of a banjo player. I’m not saying anything negative, love Marr! Just saying it

The riffmaster

A guitar hero 🎸

He is the Mozart of the guitar, leaps and bound ahead of all the rest

0:16..0:36.. It's luxurious

he'll be always my babygirl

Johnny looks so nervous when he is sitting in the studio in the beginning

"limitation breeds creativity"

1000th sub XD

Barbarism Begins at Home is fucking astonishing, Marr is a Genius.

You don't hear the west coast (UK) sound nearly as much as blues and it's just so much better. Marr really does it right.

I think was taken from ‘The seven ages of rock’ series on BBC.

FUH-ken-GENIUS!!!!!!

One of Marr's heroes is James Williamson (The Stooges)... You can see James' influence in his playing somehow. Even without all the distortion..

Johnny Marr defines Inception's main theme for me

Oh I don’t know - the What difference does it make riff could happily appear in a Black Sabbath track!

King Marr

can i view this in whole anywhere?

Johnny wasn't/isn't anti rock he just wanted to go a different direction. Instead of hammering out power chords he picked out the notes and made the guitar sing rather than sneer. IMHO.

The live forever riff is influenced by this charming man

Rickenbacker jangle? Yeah, we all called it that back then (sigh)...

Where is the entire video!!

It's the Irish Blood in him, that's where the sparks come from.

Is that a jag or a jazzmaster in the current clips?

It does not matter what anybody thinks, Johnny Marr is an absolute perfect guitarist. Clapton was never so great. Marr rates up with Mark Knopfler, Roy Clark, Jimmie Page.

Johnny was the next evolutionary step after Roger McGuinn

What Fender Guitar is Johnny Marr playing there?

2:45 What colour is that Jazzmaster? Thanks

sonic youth at the very end? what has silver rocket got to do with the smiths?

what’s the name of the song at 2:50?

Yo

What is he playing at 2:55?

Wait... Is this Lee Dorrian talking about Johnny Marr ?

Why dont they use ibanez RG

What song is playing at 1:15

So why did he not like distortion or any style of rock?

Song at 2:30 ?

What documentary is this?

2:55 track??? Please!

John McKeoch 🔴🔴🔴

2:49 what song is that? Can somebody give me a title?

I got likened to Johnny Marr today so I'm happy with that

All these old bags in the comments who don't know what post-punk means. You crack me up, la!

Good heavens. Marr is an absolutely gorgeous guitar player, melodically, harmonically, rhythmically. A prodigy, an eclectic autodidact, deservedly influential to this day. A huge inspiration to many, myself included. (And, judging from interviews, a down-to-earth, self-effacing, refreshingly non self-absorbed, self-reflective, keenly intelligent, yet never falsely modest chap) BUT please spare us the the wankers' commentary prevalent in this clip e.g.Riffs: "You don't know where they're going but they're going somewhere... " And the earnest girl and voice-over on "The Indie Sound", whatever that is or was... Such pseudo-profound analysis, very obviously salvaged, just, by valiant editing. It ain't necessary. Do your thesis or make your name in music journalism elsewhere. And Marr's name and music will still outlive either.

This Charming Man. Ah. J Mar was not Jonathan Martin Garrett Haake/Jonathan Lemire.

I like the Smiths but was never a die hard fan. I like Johnny's solo work and I am a big fan of indie and would rather listen to that than classic rock the latter being of my youth.

Doesn't he just mean he's channeling George Harrison and Keith Richards circa 1965?

3:15 Sure love, its called a Rickenbacker jangle. Unless you happen to be playing a Jag or a Tele.

Only Marr could impregnate a riff!

?

Why is this riff given so much attention?

Lol

"Distortion was out." Oh god no,